Tilted Thunder Rail Birds PresentBanked Track Roller Derby

Event

Rail Bird Flight School - Oct 2011

Rail Bird Flight School

Oct 2nd, 2011 - Nov 12th, 2011

Requirements for Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age, female and be physically able to participate in a full contact sport.You must provide a copy of valid photo ID, proof of personal health insurance coverage and USARS (info available here: www.tiltedthunder.com/tryouts).Most importantly, you must have a strong desire to improve yourself and the sport of roller derby.

Tilted Thunder Rail Birds currently have the only banked track in the state of Washington. This is the only place within hundreds of miles where you can get the kind of roller derby training that will truly prepare you for tryouts and then competition on the banked track. Even seasoned flat track competitors find that there is a learning curve with the transition to the bank, and there are many skaters in the United States that learn the sport on banked track first.

The intensive program is designed to ramp up your skill and athleticism and put you in a strong position for success as a roller derby competitor. By stretching Flight School out over a 5 week period, you will develop the necessary strength and agility faster while embedding movements and strategies into your memory. This is designed to be both challenging and fun!

Flight School kicks off on Oct 2nd, 2011 and will end on Nov 12th, 2011. Tryouts will be held on Nov 13th, 2011 for no additional cost to those who pass.

Practice Info

Practice will be offered 3-4x per week with a combination of weekday evenings and weekends.Practices run 1.5 hrs, you are expected to show up 15 minutes early to gear up. Some practices will be followed by 30 minutes of off-skates for a total of 2 hours.If you are more than 15 minutes late taking the track, your practice will not count toward attendance and you must ask the coach if you can still join.You are expected to make at least 2 practices + 1 off-skate per week in order to pass Flight School.While we will work in off-skates cross-training opportunities, we strongly suggest that you do off-skates cross-training in your own time as well.

Cost

The entire program costs $150.00 NOTE: This does not include gear or USARS. These are items you must secure yourself prior to starting Flight School.

Am I required to attend Tryouts at the end of Flight School?

We have not made this a requirement because we want you to be comfortable with the commitment and TTRB. However, this program is designed to prepare you and we very strongly encourage all participants to tryout for the league.

Can I attend even if I know I don't want to be part of the league?

No. This is for potential recruits only. TTRB is discussing other clinics for skaters who are just interested in building their skills or seeing what skating banked is like and will post information once it becomes available.

I'm currently part of another local league, can I attend?

We can accept transfer skaters, but if you are with any non-recreational league within a 60 mile radius of Seattle you must retire before tryouts or you will be dismissed. If you are affiliated with another league like Rat City, Jet City or Dockyard Dames, we will contact your league before tryouts to confirm that you have retired. We do accept skaters from recreational leagues like the Taco Kickers without requiring retirement.

Do I have to attend Flight School to try out?

We are allowing skaters to tryout without Flight School. However, be aware that banked track is different in both method and rules set. Additionally, Flight School participants will be given priority at tryouts and space is limited. If you do not have banked track experience, you will be allowed to skate the track before a basic competency test.

If I pass Flight School and Tryouts, am I on a team?

If you are accepted after tryouts you become a New Chick, attend Orientation, begin your 90-day Probationary Period and will be placed in one of 2 categories: Fresh Meat or Track Ready. If you are Track Ready, you will be eligible to attend regular league practices, CIA practices and positional scrimmages in order to achieve Bout Readiness. If you are Fresh Meat, you will be in the Fresh Meat Pool and practice in the Chicks/Fresh Meat practices until you advance to the next levels. This is designed to keep you safe and make sure that you can become the best skater possible. We run skater evaluations roughly once per month, giving you an opportunity to move up to Bout Ready as soon as you are ready. Once you are evaluated as Bout Ready you may be asked to sub on a team for upcoming bouts. You cannot be permanently placed on a team until you have finished your 90-day Probationary Period. Don't worry if you don't end up on a team immediately, we want both you and the team to be happy with the decision. That usually means a longer period of time for everyone to become familiar with personalities and styles.

This is a lot of info, but I still have questions!

Great! Come to one of the Open Houses we are holding before Flight School begins. We will have skaters on hand to answer questions about the program, the league and requirements. Even if you are sold, feel free to come down and meet us beforehand!